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I apologize on the infrequency of the updates to this site recently. I am hopefully to have it updated on a weekly basis, but at time find that I am unable to accomplish this talks. Mea maxima culpa.

This week's article has been many weeks in the making. It prevents a particular challenge for WTBH, as it tries to take a pretty heady philosophical concept called nominalism, and demonstrate why it is problematic to the Church. This article is merely a cursory glance at the issue, and a real in-depth discussion would require a lot of study. It is my hope that this article is intelligible to WTBH readers. As always, if you have comments on this article (or any article), or if you have suggestions for future articles, email us at: feedback@workingtobeathell.org

A bit about the name:
We live in a world of division. We see the world as consisting of Us and Them. This occurs on many levels ranging from politics (Republican - Democrat), to sports, and yes it has even invaded our faith life (Catholic - Protestant, Liberal - Conservative). These divisions often lead us to view the "Other" group as enemy. But the Council of Trent reminds us that we only have one enemy, and that is the devil or Satan. Thus, rather than working to beat the Republicans or Democrats, the liberals or the conservatives, we should all be united and Working to Beat Hell.

The Nominalist Problem
Fr. Brian Carpenter

In my priestly ministry, I have come to the sad realization that nominalism, or at least nominalist ideas, has crept into the minds of many individuals in the Catholic Church. To be clear, no Church policy is nominalist, yet many members of the Church have adopted nominalist positions at times. So what is nominalism, how has it crept into the minds of many Catholics, and why is it problematic? I’m glad you asked.

Nominalism, simply stated is a philosophical theory that claims universal constructs are devoid of reality. Instead, nominalism holds that the only real things are particulars. In other words, there is no reality behind a universal concept such as chair, it is merely a word. The only things that actually exist are particulars, such as the particular chair that you are currently occupying. Here the universal (concept of chair) is said to have no real meaning, while the particular (the chair in which you are now seated) remains.

Given the rather frivolous example of a chair, one may ask, what difference does it make whether I believe or do not believe that the universal concept of chair has exists in reality? And indeed, if we were only referring to chairs, there probably would be little at stake, especially in terms of salvation. But it is not simply the universal category of chair that has been called into question. Many other categories have been called into question as well. Recently, one writer for Working To Beat Hell and I had a disagreement over an article on the Lord’s Prayer. In the disputed article, there was an anecdotal story about a group of inner-city children whose fathers had abused them. Their teacher, when trying to explain God to them, realized that these children had very bad experiences with their fathers, but had positive associations with their mothers. Consequently she taught them the Lord’s Prayer replacing the phrase “Our Father” with “Our Mother.”

Now before you dismiss me as a male chauvinist, please read my argument. I am not making a male/female argument. My argument is this: the changing of the phrase “Our Father” to “Our Mother” implies that the two terms are interchangeable. Holding such a position implies that there is no real (substantial) difference between motherhood and fatherhood. By extrapolation one could argue that there is no difference between male and female. This, in fact is a nominalist move. It states that the universal categories of male and female, mother and father do not exist in reality. Rather, what exists is a particular – in this case the individuals known by the children.

This is problematic because God did not choose to reveal Himself simply as parent, but as Father. Thus, we can infer that there is in fact something about being Father that is different than that of mother. Notice, this is not putting a value claim on either parent, it is not saying Fatherhood has greater dignity than motherhood, rather it is describing a revealed relationship between God and humanity (in the case of the Lord’s Prayer). If we wish to understand this relationship, it seems to me that we don’t do ourselves any favors by denying the revealed title of Father, or by replacing it with another title, particularly one that is complimentary (as mother compliments the father) rather than equal.

This type of nominalism can be seen in other areas as well. When blessings are given to mothers on Mother’s Day, and stay-at-home-dads stand to receive the blessing as well, it can be argued that nominalism has crept into minds of many Catholics. When a father stands for the blessing of mothers, motherhood as a universal concept has been denied (as well as fatherhood). The universal concept has been replaced with a function, namely staying at home with the kids. But, as many mothers will be quick to tell you, motherhood is not simply a function, but so much more, and being female is an integral part of motherhood.

Nominalism is not limited to gender categories. Other examples of nominalism can be seen when it comes to issues of our role in the Church (for example, people who deny the universal of priest and laity, and thereby confuse their roles), or even what elements can be consecrated at the Mass (e.g. is there a real distinction between grape juice and wine? Does a host made from rice count as bread?). In each of these cases, nominalist thinking can lead us into denying universal categories in favor of particulars.

Now that we have explored what nominalism is, and some of the ways in which it has crept into the minds of Catholics, the question of why it matters must be addressed. In short, nominalism, is problematic because it is a denial of truth.
Christ tells us that the Truth will set us free, particularly, free from the powers of sin and death. If we deny what is true, if we deny that certain universal concepts do exist in a meaningful manner, then our faith becomes corrupted.

Universals are important for upholding what is true. That is to say, in order to have an idea of truth, we need to have universals that are real. Truth, after all, means that we can take a concept, compare it to reality and judge it to be true or false. For example, I can determine whether the statement “Jane is a girl” is true or false only if the word girl has some reality to it. If it is merely a word with no substantial reality, then the exercise of determining the truthfulness of the statement, “Jane is a girl” is moot. The statement only makes sense if I the concept of “girl” actually exists and is meaningful. Thus, the concept of girl must have some substantial meaning if I am going to be able to learn whether this statement is true.

If all that exists are particulars, the word girl has no real substantial meaning. Jane (a particular girl) is the only thing that has real meaning. Ultimately this means that the statement, “Jane is a girl” is meaningless. And if this entire statement has no real meaning, then there is no real truth conveyed by this statement. The problem, therefore, is that if the only real things are particulars, then there is no standard against which we can judge things. If girl has no real meaning, then we cannot truly judge something to be or not to be a girl. Truth, therefore, is evacuated of its purpose.

As Catholics, we not only believe that there is truth in the world, but that the Truth is revealed by God, and that God Himself is the Truth. But we also believe that this truth is promulgated by preaching (cf. Romans 10). This belief necessitates that we believe in a reality that, although we did not create, we can describe using words that describe commonality among individual beings.

If we want to know more about God and how he reveals Himself, then we need to be able to hold to analogies and comparisons based on universal categories. The Mass makes little sense if you cannot understand certain universal concepts. Creation is arbitrary if there are no universals that provide us insight into the divine. If we want to be freed by the Truth, then we cannot hold to erroneous philosophical systems. Therefore, we must guard against giving into nominalist tendencies and instead look to universals as guides to help us understand truth, and bring us closer to the divine life of God.

Brian Carpenter is a priest of the Diocese of Rochester, NY. Fr. Brian Carpenter. Rev. Brian Carpenter.